8 posts tagged “thoughts”

Ze Frank is manipulating our lizard brains.  It's not a bad start, and one worth exploring.  Terrell Russell posits that Ze Frank (of The Show with Ze Frank) has read, and is taking advantage of ideas covered in The Media Equation:

Chapter 3 of The Media Equation works through a series of experiments where people are shown a series of shots from different distances and at different sizes - all of the human head/body. The participants were questioned afterward and the faces that had the most impact on the viewers were the ones with screen-filling faces and that seemed ‘closer’ to the viewer, those with the least interpersonal distance.

So when Ze does his trick "bein' all up in your face" he's actually manipulating his audience to accept his ideas more easily.... Well no shit, but it doesn't take a book to figure that out does it?

The fact is, when dealing with this latest incarnation of internet video, the old laws of video composition are all askew.  Giving adequate headroom, lead room, a shot change every 5 seconds, or anything else for that mater are all open for discussion.  When the screen you're suddenly faced with presenting in is a small 320x240 box in the middle of a barrage of open windows, applications, and distractions, you'd better do what you can to make sure gain that attention and hold it long enough to get your message across.

How do you do it?

First, make sure you're properly framed to fit your viewers entire screen, so what if their view into your world is a small 320x240 window, you both know they're missing the full picture, and will struggle to see it. 

Second, don't break eye contact.  Images of police are shown to promote honesty amungst shoppers, so you too can get and maintain eye contact with your audience even if you aren't actually making eye contact.

Lastly, MTV is slow and lazy.  What, do they make an edit every three seconds?  You could potentially be dealing with viewers who've got MUCH more interesting things opened nearby, you'd better make a cut at least once a sentance. the flashing sudden movement will kick in another neglected part of our instinctual reptillian brain... the hunter.

Ze Frank didn't have to read a book for this, didn't need to do research, Ze just knows the medium, and the people he's dealing with.

I was listening to the TWIT podcast on the way into work today and they were talking about YouTube and MySpace both changing their terms and conditions to include various forms of, “nonexclusive, fully paid and royalty-free worldwide licenses" on any artwork posted to their respective sites.  That means a musician posting their song on a MySpace page, or an up-and-coming film maker posting a clip on YouTube,  looses the rights to solitary control over their work.

Obviously, both have clauses that in some form indicate if a user pulls a clip, or song before the sites sells the art, they're safe from the abuse that many IP advocates are currently screaming about.  But here's something I haven't seen mentioned anywhere; what about all the "illegal" content that's available on the sites, are the pirated clips from TV shows and movies subject to the same legal quagmire that's trapping all the kids posting their version of the "Chicken Noodle Soup" dance?

MySpace and YouTube have one HUGE problem facing them at the moment that is at the front of many minds "How do they pay for bandwidth??"  Both sites have arguably cornered the market within their niche, if you want to connect with Gen Y kids, or access viral videos, anything else is second place, but that supremecy comes with a price, bandwidth.

I'm not going to bother quoting statistics on the percentage of videos on YouTube that violate copyright, if you've been there, you've seen the Daily Show clips, or failed TV pilots everywhere.  But I'm also not blind enough to think those groups who hold the copyright don't know it's going on.  I believe they understand the value of sites like MySpace or YouTube on promoting their brand and building the popularity of their artists or shows, and are sitting back letting these sites do the promotion for them, only stepping in to "enforce their copyright" when the clip has done it's work, or someone else gets a little too possessive.

Changing the TOC on MySpace or YouTube isn't a message to the users posting videos of their dogs, those people are clamoring for a foot in the door and will make the deal with the devil.  No, the message YouTube is sending is to the copyright holders of all those clips, "Maintain your shit.  Enforce your copyright and tell us to take down these clips otherwise we're going to use them for our own purposes to turn a profit."

By changing their TOC, YouTube and MySpace force copyright holders to do their police work for them.  They get to clear out millions of clips that were only there because it was "free" advertisement for their owners but a waste of bandwidth for the sites.  Then they are left with only the clips they are clear to sell on their service - whether the banal ramblings of a guy from Brooklyn, or the Master Copy of a TV Pilot that never got claimed by it's producers.  Suddenly the onus is back on the copyright holders.

pretty fucking sneaky... too bad the lawyers are going to have a field day the first time a targeted ad is posted next to a Saturday Night Live sketch on YouTube.

• Walk to train station - well timed, train arrived the same time I did - minor brow perspiration
• Metro North - AC was blasting for once - actually kinda chilly
• Grand Central Terminal - Mordor has relocated to Manhattan - Holy sweat balls
• Starbucks Pomegranate Frappuccino - but it's new, I had to try it -  this might work until I get to 53rd and Lex
• 6 Train - well timed, downstairs and right into the ACd subway - psyching myself up for the 53rd and Lex station
• 53 and Lex station - Loving the hot musty air of an oncoming train wash over me - at least THIS hot musty air is moving - Dear God please let this be the E train!
• E Train - First car is hot, fuck the police I'm switching cars, second car has functional AC. - Sweet, I might make it to work without becoming a sweaty mess!
• Walk to office - No worries, I'm almost safely inside the freezing building! - optimism is cooling
• Elevator to floor - One working elevator, no AC, and it's packed with sweaty people - fuuuuuuuck.
  

During my nearly two hour commute to work everyday I burn through a lot of podcasts and often imagine starting one of my own.  (Go figure - I've barely picked up blogging with any sort of regularity again and here I am thinking about upping the ante.)

My brother and I occasionally bounce around the idea of doing something vaguely techy - we've certainly got the banter down, but during my train, and subsequent subway ride into Queens every day - I imagine something grittier - more sound scene like.

IDEA #1
A sound scene style music podcast featuring the subway musicians and buskers.  You could spotlight a musician, recording their performances as commuters and trains constantly rush past.  Intersperse their music with an interview for added depth, "how long have you been performing?" "What do you think about people's additudes toward subway muscians?" "Have iPods hurt business much?"

I imagine calling it "Sounds Underground" or something simmilar.

IDEA #2
There are millions of people moving through New York City everyday.  Approximatly 5% of them are off their meds and I walk past them all. 

The crazy people of New York scream out opinions and gibberish with amazing fluency for those who'd be better off with velcro shoes and they all want to be heard.  Why not help give them that voice?

Imagine a podcast filled with nothing but the best crazy rants you can find (yes I know, these podcasts are a dime a dozen). I'm sure I could make a 4 part series about the crazy mysoginist at 5th and 53rd. And best of all for the listeners, they get the thrill of listening to insanity without the need to interact with any of them!

I'm not sure where along the line I made the decision, but I never really had the desire to master working on a PC.  I functioned quite well when I wanted to.  I could do moderate repairs and troubleshooting when needed, but I fell back to the general level of interest I had with most subjects: Jack of all trades, master of none.

My wife is the MS Office queen, pivot tables and embedded brick-a-brack that made for compelling and useful end products.  Her Christmas wish lists come with such detail and specificity, I nearly expect to find a checkout button at the bottom.  My brother and father are consummate geeks, developers who are as at home on the command line as they are digging through the register settings like a bag full of Legos.  I never had that urge to dig in though - whether it was a fear of bricking the machine by futzing around in directories someone obviously maked as "hidden" for a reason, or just no real need or desire to do advanced functionality in any of the programs I use. I contented myself to learning a few fun little keyboard shortcuts and the daring tweeking of a preference pannel or two.

With my recent switch to OSX however, I feel like I've got a bit of a reset button. I can start from scratch, learning a new OS at an age where I can understand some of the logic better, and still have the 'new toy' passion to actually put in the effort.  Of course it's a bit overwhelming; there is a lot to learn but I think I've at least ramped up to an average user level and now can start learning some of the tricks.

Automator and Applescripts are two tools I'm struggling to understand - not because they aren't easy or intuitive, but because it's hard to overcome the years of simply saying, "you can't do that" and come up with ideas for things to actually try.  I suspect another issue is that there simply aren't that many things I can think of that I do so repetitivly that I'd need an automator action, or script to accomplish.

Quicksilver

For the past few weeks though, I've been noticing a few of the productivity folks talking about this app Quicksilver.  Quicksilver is  a really nifty looking app that functions like Spotlike on speed.  Instead on merely looking up applications or files, with quicksilver you can now run application functions in a real stream of consciousness fashion, piecing together files and commands, creating a complete workflow without ever leaving Quicksilver.

Fear struck again.  Looking at some of the demos on sites like The Apple Blog, made it seem like a Quicksilver user would need to learn an insane amount of arcane keyboard shortcuts to run through a process with the speed that the presenter seemed to be running.  Imagining the depth of knowledge  required, I suddenly began to feel that creeping need to avoid it.  I'd bitten off more than I can chew with a dozen other applications already, adding another layer of complication is the last thing I needed. 

But yesterday I caught the latest Macbreak with Leo Laporte and Merlin Mann (of 43 Folders)and seeing the keystrokes as well as their results gave some great insight into the application.  I immediltly cracked open that .dmg that'd been sitting my my desktop and started playing.  I gotta say, it's an incredibly cool app.  If you're a Mac user,  you owe it to yourself to go check out some of the videos.  This is a toy I'm looking forward to mastering.

Update:
There appears to be a simmilar gadget, Launchy for Windows

I suppose it needs to be mentioned that after 20 years of a strict PC upbringing... I've switched to Mac.

Yup, not since the good ol' Apple II of my youth (stupid math flash cards) have I touched an Apple for more than a few minutes at a time.  But being a professional video editor AND a PC user is a rare breed.  I knew if I want to to grow I needed to embrace the produce.  So here I am, typing on my 17" Macbook Pro.

Do I like it?

Hell yes.

Sure it takes a bit of getting used to.  Some of the weird commands and weirder install procedures take some getting used to, but with the two finger "right" click and scrolling, most of my bigger concerns were wiped out, and I'm happily flipping around screens and calling up a variety of media with ease. 

If the first month with the Mac is any indication, expect me to be singing it's praises for a while to come. - I've certianly sung loud enough at home... My wife got her Macbook a week ago.

Forgive me blogosphere, for I have slacked.  It's been nearly two years since my last post. 

In the interveining time, I let my domain lapse and become hostage to some squatters, though I suppose I should be happy that I had enough of an Alexa ranking to warrent the time.  Of course, with some fiddling with broken links, the archives of the close to three years of prior posts are still available (thanks Pop), and while I could recover them further, I'm looking forward to starting anew.

Why did I quit? Was it because I was too caught up in life - being a newlywed, a busy work schedule, a wealth of extracuricular activities?  Not-so-much.  I blogged our honeymoon and it seems spending time online IS my extracuricular activity. 

Was it 'cause I didn't recieve the A-list stamp of approval and the love of the masses?  Nah - I generally wrote about stuff only of inport to my immediate friends and family.  If I was looking for stardom I'd have quit years prior.

My best guess was that I was taking the site in too many directions.  I wanted to talk about life, jokes, and establish cred as a technological, and political wiz-kid.  I had opinions on many things, but few strong enough to hold my focus.  Or that  stuff that was at the front of my mind wasn't the stuff I was willing to share.

I had ideas but no direction, a problem that plagues me still.  So be patient.  This post may just be a place-holder for a while until I figure out WHAT exactly this all should be.